A permanent password built into Samsung printers could give an attacker access to sensitive networks, information system configuration controls and any information the printer receives, a United States Computer Emergency Readiness Team (US-CERT) advisory warned Monday.
The flaw does not affect models released after Halloween (Oct. 31), Samsung said, but does affect Dell printers manufactured by Samsung.
Samsung has a patch to fix the flaw in the works and administrators and IT departments can mitigate the threat by only allowing connections to trusted networks, the CERT advisory said.
This security flaw is a reminder that network vulnerabilities can be exploited on devices other than computers.
Last year, hackers took advantage of a firmware flaw in HP printers, and last month, Huawei was embarrassed when a security researcher revealed absurdly simple hardcoded passwords on their network Wi-Fi routers. Thieves routinely steal identifiable information via point-of-sale terminals and ATMs as well.
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